The American College and University Presidents Climate Commitment

"The fight against global warming will shape the 21st
century. Colleges and universities must exercise
leadership in their communities and throughout
society by modeling ways to eliminate global warming
emissions, and by providing the knowledge and
educated graduates to achieve climate neutrality."—
The American College and University Presidents Climate Commitment

In June 2007 President Bassett signed the Presidents
Climate Commitment. Through this action Clark
University became a charter signatory to an exciting
initiative aimed at mobilizing the resources of colleges
and universities in efforts to reduce greenhouse gas
emissions. The core goal of the commitment is to find
ways for colleges and universities to achieve climate
neutrality, or net zero greenhouse gas emissions. This
is a bold vision, one that we and other universities
aspire to but do not yet know the pathways to
achieve the goal of climate neutrality.

Coordinating campus activities aimed at reducing
greenhouse gas emissions is one of the responsibilities
of the campus sustainability taskforce. In the coming
year we will take the initial step of expanding our
greenhouse gas emissions inventory to include other
campus activities, such as transportation. We will
recommend interim targets for reducing greenhouse
gas emissions, and as we learn more about
opportunities to reduce emissions, set a target date
for becoming climate neutral. Making progress
toward this goal will not be easy and it will require a
willingness on the part of all members of the Clark
University community to make this a priority for many
years to come.